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Life is one big seminar. It is not always necessary to go to formal training sessions to learn how to sell. There are many accidental seminars put on by people you encounter every day. In this one, I learned a valuable lesson about asking questions and controlling a meeting's focus. Sarah McCann, my partner and wife, and I were spending our ...

Sales is about making connections, though not just with customers. Your long-term success as a salesperson depends on your ability to collaborate with others. Networking, whether it involves securing employment, generating business leads or seeking professional advice, yields immeasurable rewards. Many salespeople find it tough to commit the time necessary for effective networking. These tips will help you fit some key ...

Creating a structured plan and process is vital to any successful venture, whether launching a new business, orchestrating an organizational turnaround or managing your job search networking campaign. It is critical that you clearly identify your network contacts, develop a personalized networking plan and build an administrative process to manage it all. Before starting to create a two-tiered networking system, remember ...

Email is arguably the most important sales prospecting tool to come along since the invention of the business card. Yet even as email has become essential to the way sales organizations function, many salespeople remain in the dark about how to harness this powerful tool’s full potential to open a dialogue with potential customers. h4. A Way to Connect with Customers ...

For many, the mention of the word "networking" conjures up unsettling images of hundreds of men and women exchanging business cards, making small talk and angling for a chance to ask that all-important question: "So, who do you know in my field?" Even the most extroverted people may not get excited about this process, but it's especially painful for shy individuals, ...

It's a conundrum faced by many, if not most, job seekers: You want to cultivate all the connections you can to maximize your chances of plugging into the best career opportunities. But the more word gets out about you, the more chance your exit strategy will get back to the boss. Even professionals in industries rife with job hoppers are careful ...

There is more to networking than running around a room collecting business cards. Effective networking is an art, not a science. Put your networking plan into place today, and you will soon reap the rewards by being well-connected in your community. h2. The Importance of Networking A vast number of job openings never make it to the newspaper or job boards. ...

After you’ve successfully completed a job search, shouldn’t networking be the last thing on your mind? Not so, say networking experts. In fact, internal networking, right from the beginning, is key to maintaining the upward trajectory of your career. Here’s how to successfully launch your networking campaign at a new job. h4. Why Network from the Start? “When you start in ...

Think an MBA or law degree will advance your career? Think twice. Experts say the best way to advance is by having a trusted and powerful mentor. A mentor is a person who advises and coaches you, offers support and acts as your advocate. From the beginning, a mentor shows you the ropes, introduces you to the right people and points ...

Monster Member Will Asks: I'm really a friendly guy, and I have excellent relationships with people. But I tend to have a few good friends rather than many superficial ones. I like to have long quiet dinners with people where we can really talk about what we're thinking and feeling. I've always hated fraternity parties and mega-events where you go to ...

h4. Womens Organizations Thousands of women's organizations, such as businesswomen's associations and societies of women engineers, have sprouted up. These groups offer invaluable networking opportunities. For reasons too complicated to explore here, there are few men's networking organizations. Recently, I spoke at an American Women in Radio and TV event. During the networking session, I noticed that the few male attendees ...

When I give talks to students in college and grad school, they always ask me: What are the secrets to success? What are the unspoken rules for making it big? "So you want the inside scoop," I respond. "Fair enough. I'll sum up the key to success in one word: Generosity." They are shocked, because they thought I'd help them learn ...

If you want to make networking a natural, comfortable part of your work life, look for opportunities during your day; there are tons of them. The trick is to recognize them and redefine networking as something beyond just approaching strangers for favors. Here are 10 often-overlooked opportunities for networking: Telephone Calls Every day, you call people. You call friends and family ...

You wouldn't wear jeans to a job interview, but do you pay as much attention to job-hunting etiquette when networking? Everyone talks about networking but few realize how to do it well. Most people start networking when they start looking for a job. In any job market (and especially this one), a network will provide you with more opportunities and more ...

Salespeople need to smile more, and not forced smiles like Arthur Miller envisioned in Death of a Salesman: He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. It takes much more than a smile and a shoeshine to succeed in sales today. Still, they are a good place to start. I sell speeches. A ...

A crazy thing about communication in American society is the strange power of the listener. A song isn't good unless the listener says it is good; audiences determine music's success. However, it is equally true that we aren't serious listeners until we have educated our ears. If we don't critically train our listening tastes, we could be a mindless consumer of ...

Do you use humor to break the ice on a cold call? This can be a great tactic -- if properly executed. David, a sales rep, misused this approach on one call and, as a result, did not find laugh all the way to the bank. Here's David's story: When a dark-suited sales rep appears at a bank to make a ...

Many people clam up when it's their turn to make a presentation, regardless of how many people are in the room. But there are ways to overcome the fear of public speaking. "Understand that the audience really wants you to do well," says Patricia Fripp, a San Francisco-based professional speaker and speech coach. She offers these tips to help you organize ...

These days, you don't have to be willing to sell your mother up the river to succeed in sales. And you don't have to leave integrity and compassion by the wayside to close a deal. With growing interest in New Age principles, the movers, shakers and innovators in the sales industry have been touting alternative approaches to selling -- ones that ...

Want a new route to the top? Here is a simple exercise you can do to see exactly how objectives and standards work together. Thousands of people have completed this exercise in my seminars and have generated remarkable results. One participant said, "I now realize I have more control over my sales than I thought I did." "I'm mad," said another ...